The Black Keys perform three festival shows this weekend in California. First, they join the Smashing Pumpkins, My Chemical Romance, and others for Live 105's Not So Silent Night festival at the HP Pavilion in San Jose tonight. Then the Keys head to San Diego for the FM 94.9 Holiday Hootenanny with Against Me!, The Temper Trap, and others at UC San Diego's RIMAC Arena on Saturday. (The poster for Saturday's show in San Diego, pictured at left, is part of a signed and numbered edition of 175 by Zombie specialist Jeff Proctor.) Finally, the duo will perform at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas with Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, and others at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City on Sunday.

Following their festival spree, the band stays on in California to perform a live set of songs from their multi-Grammy-nominated album Brothers on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic in Santa Monica at 11:15 AM PST. Host Jason Bentley joins many others in choosing Brothers as his favorite album of the year.

---

As noted earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal, John Adams concludes his residency with the San Francisco Symphony, part of the orchestra's Project San Francisco, when he leads members of the orchestra in a performance of his chamber music this Sunday. On the program are Road Movies, Shaker Loops, Hallelujah Junction, as well as Adams's String Quartet, which will be performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, for whom the composer wrote the piece in 2008.

---

Timothy Andres performs the world premiere of his new piano piece It takes a long time to become a good composer, as well as Schumann's Kreisleriana and Andres's 2010 work Clamber Music, with the Metropolis Ensemble, at the Park Millennium in New York City tonight (sold-out) and Saturday at 3 PM. Andres's debut album, Shy and Mighty, has been named among the year's notable recordings according to The New Yorker's Alex Ross.

---

Carolina Chocolate Drops and The Low Anthem conclude their tour together with a performance at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina, tonight. The Chocolate Drops stay on in their home state for a solo show at the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh on Saturday.

The Low Anthem heads next to Nashville to join another Nonesuch label mate, Emmylou Harris, in two sets at the storied Ryman Auditorium Saturday night at 7 PM EST and 9:30 PM for the Grand Ole Opry. You can hear both sets live online at wsmonline.com.
   
---

Shawn Colvin joins Patty Griffin in a benefit concert for Marathon Kids at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. Marathon Kids is a free, six month, running/walking/nutrition and gardening program for K-5th graders who are most vulnerable to type 2 diabetes and sedentary lifestyles.

---

Christina Courtin concludes her four-city tour with Aoife O'Donovan of Crooked Still this weekend. They perform at the United Church of Putney in Putney, Vermont, tonight, and at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on Saturday.

---

Gidon Kremer performs works by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnëv at the Teatro Morlacchi in Perugio, Italy, on Saturday.

---

As reported earlier today in the Nonesuch Journal, The Hard Nut, Mark Morris's 1991 retelling of the classic tale of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffmann, returns to New York for the first time in eight years, with an eight-performance run at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn, starting tonight. The New York Times says: "Mr. Morris creates a marvelously musical, choreographically ingenious response to Tchaikovsky’s great score that has its own magic and speaks its own truths about the nature of love." The Hard Nut DVD is now 33% off in the Nonesuch Store.

---

Punch Brothers finish up their fall tour with two shows at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday and Sunday. The band returns to the road in exactly one month with a performance at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the mean time, you can download the group's Grammy-nominated song "New Chance Blues" for free here.